One Word Film Project

This project consisted of making a 1-2 minute short film based on a random word given to us. The short film had to follow several limitations, such as no dialogue, allowing only instrumental music and sound effects, and the story presented had to be something that could realistically occur within 1-2 minutes in real life.

The word given to my partner and me was "hateful." The condition of a real-life 1-2 minute story really limited us, so during our brainstorming, we focused on finding a way to make the word stand out in such a short period. We quickly decided to make the story about a bully, but we struggled for a while to figure out what he could do to make him appear hateful within our limited time. We concluded that we would focus on showing how the bully enjoyed tormenting the victim. This enjoyment would easily make him deserving of hate.

With this as the main drive of our story, we quickly thought of showing the bully in close-up shots so the audience could always see a smile on his face. While drawing the storyboard, we used mid shots for the bully only when we needed to show him goofing around or using his arms. The storyboarding allowed us to plan a narrative where the hateful nature of the bully was easily portrayed through his smile and enjoyment, so we could conclude the short film by materializing the victim’s hatred with a single, simple shot.

We edited the film in Premiere. Both of us had experience with the program, so we worked together on color grading. It was a bit challenging because some of the shots ended up being really dark. However, this didn’t cause any issues with the cuts. Using shot/reverse shot techniques, we enhanced the relationship between the bully and the victim throughout the short film.

Overall, I think the project was solid. The story was simple, but that's what a 1-2 minute real-life story calls for. The editing was really good. Interestingly, my partner and I ended up using very different techniques to achieve the same objective. I think his approach was better, so I’d like to spend more time on editing in my next project. Another area we could have improved was time management. We finished just in time, so some of the final shots were rushed and didn’t turn out as well as we had hoped. However, the project did include some high-quality shots that I’m really happy with, which shows a good sign of improvement.

Project: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13J2b4AUo6ebb3R6_xL4_1zfuRDoiQrUl/view?usp=sharing

Shot Quiz

For our first quiz in this class, we were limited to telling a story through a set of fifteen shots. There were other conditions, such as using inanimate objects as our main subjects, incorporating ten specific types of shots, and working in pairs. The main purpose of the activity was to demonstrate our understanding of the types of shots learned in class, enhancing our storytelling through our shot selections. The primary task for my partner and me was to determine which shot would best communicate a feeling or sensation during the story.

With this in mind, we created a shot list, matching plot points of the story with shots that would effectively portray the particular emotions conveyed in each scene. Our story ended up being quite ambitious for a small task like this one, so we had a hard time ensuring that the story was understood solely through images.

We decided to tell the story of an old book that no one wants to read because it is in poor condition. This results in the book losing its confidence, symbolized by it losing one of its pages. Another book, one in good condition, helps the old book regain its confidence by placing the fallen page back. The story aims to convey a deeper meaning, though it is somewhat subtle. To try to clarify this message, we focused on making the shots look dramatic, with a lot of contrast between highlights and shadows added in post-production. This, I would say, was our strongest point; thanks to my partner's skills, we were able to create high-contrast images that matched the mood we were aiming for.

As previously stated, the story we came up with was a bit pretentious, and I believe we could have done a better job of giving complete meaning to our shots. One particular aspect we could have improved is the clearer identification of the types of shots. Our subjects were books, so distinguishing between a mid-shot and a close-up was really difficult. If we had managed to frame our subjects more effectively, the narrative intentions of our shots would have been more specific, giving us the chance to portray drama through different elements.

For example, this shot was meant to generate intrigue about what the new book was going to do with the page. That is why we chose a mid-shot, so the spectator could see a large part of the subject, as well as the page and its surroundings, trying to anticipate some sort of movement. However, we framed too much of the subject, making it a shot that didn’t fulfill its purpose correctly.

Another aspect we could improve is our management of time. We ended up having to rush the final shots, resulting in lower quality.

Overall, I learned a lot from this assignment, and I’ll focus on improving my mistakes in future projects.

Link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAGPMZNe9_4/--TyNFTMxOimlPCLT-VAHQ/edit?utm_content=DAGPMZNe9_4&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton